During the 1930’s and 40’s, the Dust Bowl forced numerous families out of their homes, and according to PBS.org, “By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the plains states” (PBS, Mass Exodus from the Plains). Turmoil is constantly imposed upon these families in the Dust Bowl, and many yearn for support and leadership. They often find this support and leadership by expanding their families or by altering the conventional family structure. Often times, these migrant families expand by bringing a close friend into their tightknit group. Friends quickly become family, and help provide the needed relief to carry on. These migrant families also expand by building one large family out of many. In this new union of families they share food and supplies, and they keep each other going. Along with the expansion of the family, some of the roles in the family begin to shift. The position of the mother morphs and becomes something …show more content…
Steinbeck touches upon this in chapter 17 of The Grapes of Wrath, with the statement, “In the evening a strange thing happened: the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream” (230). In this instance, complete strangers come together and act as if they are all family. The phrase in this quote, “became one family” signifies how strong of a bond these many families quickly form with each other. The word “family” is a significant word, because even though they are just meeting, they are not named as just friends or acquaintances, but family. In this large family unit, they care for each other and one person’s loss is everyone’s loss. All of these families are brought together by their similar trials, and they work together towards the same
Al Joad is a fairly skinny guy of medium built who starts out being a
When times get tough, many people turn away from everyone and everything. It must be part of human nature to adopt an independent attitude when faced with troubles. It is understandable because most people do not want to trouble their loved ones when they are going through problems, so it is easier to turn away than stick together. Maybe their family is going through a rough patch and they reason they would be better off on their own. This path of independence and solitude may not always be the best option for them or their family, though. Often times it is more beneficial for everyone to work through the problem together. It is not always the easiest or most desirable option, but most times it is the most efficient and it will get results in the long run. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck makes this point very clear through several characters. Many characters throughout
drop their life and move to a different state. When they arrived in California they were not
Steinbeck's relationship to the transcendentalists [Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman] was pointed out soon after The Grapes of Wrath appeared by Frederick I. Carpenter, and as the thirties fade into history, Jim Casy with his idea of the holiness of all men and the unreality of sin seems less a product of his own narrowly doctrinaire age than a latter-day wanderer from the green village of Concord to the dry plains of the West.
There is one book that can, and does affect everyone that reads is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck is a very interesting person, and one that did not even graduate from college. New York seems to be the city of new beginnings and for Steinbeck it was just what he needed. He got a big reality check when he tried to become a free lance writer and that did not work out the way he had hoped it would. He then went back to California and published both short stories and novels. Steinbeck got heavily critiqued on his first novels and considers his best work The Grapes of Wrath by far. Since this was such a successful novel and one that needed to be shared with more people they made a movie based on the book, but left out some key parts at the end of the novel. They left out these last chapters because of some key reasons and when you read the book you begin to understand why they could not have put these words into a picture. John Steinbeck creates a picture and feeling at the end of the novel that is almost unbearable to read and leaves you with a feeling of dread but, that is what The Grapes of Wrath is all about.
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a novel about the hardships of an Oklahoma family, the Joads, migrating to California in hopes for a better life during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl after the bank stripped them from their home. Steinbeck uses narrative description and symbolisms of a land turtle, through contextual and cultural content; the turtle being hit by a truck, and the turtle’s hard shell and his ability to withstand the damage and proceed with his life. The turtle symbolizes the new life and struggles of the journey to the west, the promise land.
Could the dysfunction of the Walls family have fostered the extraordinary resilience and strength of the three older siblings through a collaborative set of rites of passage? One could argue that the unusual and destructive behavior of the parents forced the children into a unique collection of rites of passage that resulted in surprisingly resilient and successful adults. In moving back to Welch, Virginia, the children lost what minimal sense of security they may have enjoyed while living in their grandmother’s home in Arizona. The culture and climate (both socially and environmentally) along with an increased awareness of their poverty resulted in a significant loss of identity. As they learned new social and survival skills in this desperate environment, there is a powerful sense of camaraderie between the older children. Their awareness, drive and cunning survival skills while living in Welch result in a developing sense of confidence in their ability to survive anything. This transition, while wretched, sets the stage for their ability to leave their environment behind with little concern for a lack of success. As the children leave, one by one, to New York, they continue to support one another, and emerge as capable, resourceful young adults.
“Everybody wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but its jus' in their head.” (Steinbeck) The Grapes of Wrath is most often categorized as an American Realist novel. It was written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. As a result of this novel, Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and prominently cited the novel when he won the Nobel Prize a little over twenty years after the text’s publication. This text follows the Joad family through the Great Depression. It begins in Oklahoma, watching as the family is driven from their home by drought and economic changes. Within the introduction of the novel the living conditions is described, “Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: The walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as the fence tops and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it.” (Grapes, 1) This novel is and will remain one of the most significant novels of the Great Depression. Despite its controversial nature it is timeless. In fact, the ending of this text is one of the most controversial pieces of literature written during the time period, and has never accurately made its way into film. The ending to John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath is the most significant portion of the novel due to its historical accuracy as well as its message about the American spirit.
Many themes were portrayed in Cannery Row. These themes give the play depth and fascination. The three most significant themes thought are Loneliness, Sympathy, and Remuneration, allowing the story to reach many areas in life.
Family in the novel is described as a group of people that have a unit or bond that they share each day
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, transition is defined as a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, style to another, or simply just change. The book Grapes of Wrath have displayed many transitions by the characters and the society that is portrayed in the novel. The two characters that made significant transitions in the book are Tom Joad and Ma Joad. Tom transitions over the course of the novel from an ex-convict that had killed a man, independent, stubborn, and lives his life day by day to exhibiting thoughtfulness, a person with high morals, and compassion. In the beginning of the novel, Ma Joad was just a mother figure and care giver in the family, but later on she slowly begins to become the center for strength and the decision maker in the family when Pa Joad was not effectively able to assume that role. Another significant transition in the novel is the changing in society that
John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in response to the Great Depression. Steinbeck's intentions were to publicize the movements of a fictional family affected by the Dust Bowl that was forced to move from their homestead. Also a purpose of Steinbeck's was to criticize the hard realities of a dichotomized American society.
on (the land), and we got killed on it, died on it. That's what makes
Having watched the movie "Grapes of Wrath", I have been given the opportunity to see the troubles that would have befell migrant workers during the Great Depression. Though the Joads were a fictitious family, I was able to identify with many signs of hope that they could hold onto. Some of these families who made the journey in real life carried on when all they had was hope. The three major signs of hope which I discovered were, overcoming adversity, finding jobs, and completing the journey.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.